October date for OGC open source trials report

The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) plans to publish a report on its public sector open source software trials in late October.

The trials, announced late last year, were originally scheduled for completion in April, but an OGC spokesman told vnunet.com: "The work is ongoing and some trials are not completed. The report will go out towards the end of October 2004."

He said the delay was partly to incorporate the trials on Sun's Linux desktop known as the Java Desktop System (JDS), which was added after the original trials began and which complemented IBM's open source server trials.

"It is only right that we include both the IBM and Sun trials results in the report," added the spokesman.

The contract with Sun, signed last December, covers a series of pilots this year, including the NHS, and includes thin clients as well as the JDS.

At the time the OGC said Sun had to show it could effectively run the half-million desktops used by UK civil servants.

Among other trials that are ongoing, Powys Council is working with IBM to integrate the open source Samba file and print software into a sophisticated LDAP directory for single sign-on and authorisation.

Central Scotland Police's wide-ranging document administration system, which it hopes will be adopted throughout the police force, is still at test-bed stage.

But Eric Woods, government practice director at Ovum, warned that if the report is delayed too long it could become less relevant as the environment changes. "It would be nice to have some preliminary results," he said.

"The introduction of the desktop side may have changed the remit. Most commentators, including Ovum, recognise in some way the desktop is a different issue, including the maturity of the technology."